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While Ford distanced himself from his supporter’s outburst, Wynne blamed the Progressive Conservative leader for the “irresponsible rhetoric” in the June 7 election.

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford says he doesn’t condone chants of “lock her up” reportedly directed at Kathleen Wynne at a Progressive Conservative rally on Monday. The Ontario Liberal leader says the rhetoric is a “disturbing trend.” (The Canadian Press)

“It’s unfortunate that those kinds of things are happening on this campaign and Mr. Ford is going to have to deal with his supporters in a way that I hope brings some respect to the political dialogue and discussion,” the NDP leader said Tuesday in London.

“It’s about slogans and bumper stickers and angry division more than it is about responsible decision-making, principled policies … that are going to help people,” she said.

Ontario Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne said she “can’t control what Doug Ford and his team say and do. It’s a very disturbing trend here in Ontario and we all need to pay attention to it,” she said. (Andrew Ryan / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

The Liberal leader made her comments at a local high-tech firm where she was promoting her government’s $11-billion commitment to build a high-speed rail link between Toronto and London.

At a packed Tory rally on Monday night in Niagara Falls, a Ford supporter twice shouted “lock her up” in regard to Wynne’s handling of Hydro One, the electricity utility she partially privatized in 2015.

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The Tory leader paused and chuckled as he was addressing some 300 partisans at the rally. He did not admonish the man at the time despite saying in the speech he intends to take “the high road” if the campaign to defeat Wynne gets personal.

“Let me be very clear: I don’t condone that. Simple as that. I don’t condone it.”

Wynne, who trails Ford and Horwath in most public-opinion polls, said she “can’t control what Doug Ford and his team say and do.”

“It’s a very disturbing trend here in Ontario and we all need to pay attention to it,” she said, blasting “Doug Ford doing that chaotic, divisive sloganeering.”

The Liberals have tried to paint Ford as another Trump, drawing parallels between the Ontario election and the last U.S. presidential race.

In that campaign, Trump’s Republican rallies routinely featured angry chants of “lock her up” aimed at his Democratic rival Clinton.

Since winning the 2016 American election, the president has frequently complained on Twitter that justice officials are investigating his administration, not Clinton’s alleged transgressions.

Ford has said if he wins next month’s election, he will launch a commission of inquiry into the Liberal government’s spending.

London West incumbent Peggy Sattler, who served as the NDP’s women’s issues critics, said she’s concerned about the influence of U.S.-style politics here.

“What it suggests is that what we saw with Donald Trump, validating this kind of language as part of the public discourse, is creeping up into Ontario,” said Sattler.

“Doug Ford is OK with that. He is OK with having a candidate in London West who has made comments like that,” she said, referring to Ford-appointee Andrew Lawton, a former talk-radio host who has apologized for past offensive social media postings on same-sex marriage, women and Islam, blaming his mental health issues.

“Silence is validating those kinds of words and that kind of language and that kind of attitude as legitimate public discourse, and it is not. It cannot be,” said Sattler. “We need to be very clear about that.”

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